20 Most Expensive Things Sold On Ebay

From iconic landmark signs to small towns and games with celebrities, these are 20 of the biggest money-sinks auctioned off in the history of both the internet and real life.

20 – Bandai Stadium Events

• 1987, game for the original Nintendo Entertainment System
• Back then companies were experimenting with input devices like VR headsets, and this game was designed for the Nintendo fitness mat, with controls similar to dance dance revolution
• Only 200 copies were believed to have been released to consumers before Bandai recalled the rest of them
• In 2010, one copy was listed on Auction for $41,300 – and it sold, though the bidder never actually paid for the game
• Another copy was again listed at 22,800 dollars, still a massive amount, and this time the transaction was completed

19 – Ian Usher

• 2008, Ian’s wife and his six children left him, so he decided to start fresh
• He did this by listing HIMSELF up for auction, or more specifically, all of this things – his house, car, his job and and an introduction to his friends
• Someone actually bought all this, a 400,000 dollar purchase, though Ian claims he wanted more since his house alone was worth just under 400k, but he’s still satisfied

18 – The Original Hollywood Sign

• 1978, the iconic Hollywood sign was replaced since the original one had deteriorated over 50 years
• In 2005, the original sign went up for auction, starting bid 300,000, the owner needed to sell it because he wanted to finance a personal project
• It sold for the total of 450,000 dollars to artist Bill Mack who wanted the sheet metal to paint the likeness of stars from the Golden Age of Hollywood

17 – Honus Wagner Baseball Card

• 1909, the American Tobacco Company produces a baseball card
• Over the years it passed between many famous hands, the sports memorabilia collector Michael Gidwitz, former Los Angeles Kings owner Bruce McNall, and of course, the famous Wayne Gretzky
• The year 2000, this Honus Wagner card is listed on auction, and it sells to Brian Seigel for just over a million dollars, in addition to a 15 percent buyers fee
• It was been said to be the rarest, more legendary baseball card on Earth

16 – Jenny’s Phone Number

• A series of phone number featured in Tommy Tutone’s 1982 hit song
• It found its way onto Auction auctioned by New Jersey DJ Spencer Potter
• He couldn’t sell the actual number since that’d violate the telephone companies rules, but he COULD auction off the DJ business it was associated with – so that’s what he did
• It sold for 186 thousand dollars in 2009, and it’s reported the number still gets between 9 to 10 thousand calls a year from 80s enthusiasts

15 – Da Vinci’s Codex Hammer

• This one bought by Bill Gates in 1994 for a whopping 30 million dollars
• Though Codex Hammer was basically a journal to record his thoughts and observations with, and this was beyond his most famous one
• A few years later, Bill released a CD-ROM version of the codex to the public, 74 pages in total

14 – 2003 Enzo Ferrari

• This car was built specifically to honor the founder of the company, Enzo Ferrari
• Only 400 of these 12-cylinder street race cars were built and sold, and these days they only sell for upwards of a million dollars
• But one guy managed to scrape together a 500,000 dollar win on auction, quite cheap considering the rarity

13 – Golf Game with Tiger Woods

• It was actually common practice for rich suits to pay to golf with Tiger Woods, some paying more than a million for the privilege, all money going to charity or so they so
• These were the days before the cheating scandal muddied up Tiger Woods reputation
• However, one time an auction listing went up for a game with Woods for 425,000 dollars – and it actually sold

12 – Lunch with the Oracle of Omaha

• 2010, Berkshire Hathaway CEO Warren Buffett, known as the third richest man in the world, listed up for a auction a lunch with someone
• There were many bids, some even within a hundred dollars of each other, but eventually the grand total came to 2.6 million dollars
• The winner wished to remain anonymous

11 – Churchill’s Dentures

• False teeth worn by Winston Churchill, famous for his speeches during World War II
• He wore these to hide his lisp as well as accentuate his token slurred pronunciation of words
• Originally the teeth were put up for auction by the son of the dentist who made them for only a few thousand, but enough bids rose it to a selling price of 23,000 dollars

10 – Albert, Texas

• 2004, a tiny 5 person town is bought by insurance broker Bobby Cave for a measly 215,000 dollars
• He invests over half a million dollars into fixing it up, expanding, until in 2007 Bobby puts it up on auction to see if there were any takers
• Eventually, someone comes along and spends 2.5 million to own the town, returning Bobby’s nice little investment and then some

9 – The Gulfstream II

• 2001, the most expensive auction item ever sold at the time, the Gulfstream private jet – 4.9 million dollars
• The gulfstream seats 12 and it was sold by business plane vendor Tyler Jet to an African company

8 – Shoeless Joe’s Baseball Bat

• 1920, Major Leaguer Shoeless Joe Jackson stops using his baseball bat of 12 years, the reason?
• Jackson an seven other White Sox players suspended from professional baseball because of a Black Sox scandal despite his lack of involvement in the affair
• It was listed by Jackson’s nephew on auction and sold for 577,000 dollars

7 – An Ejaculating Manga-Boy Statue

• You heard it right, it was known as “My Lonesome Cowboy”, a life-sized sculpture by Takashi Murakami of a kid jerking his wang and lassoing the love juice around his head
• It was originally only supposed to get 3-4 million on auction, but it ended up scraping in 13.5 million, plus house commission of course
• Was it worth the money? Only the crazy auctioneer can answer that, because I sure as hell can’t

6 – Artemis and the Stag

• 1920s, a team of construction workers find a 2000 year old Roman statue hidden in the rubble of ancient Rome
• 2007, it’s listed by curators on auction, predictions that it’d only reach 7 million or so
• Then an anonymous buyer comes along and bids 28 million dollars, suffice to say the curators were more than happy to accept

5 – Samuel Allsopp’s Arctic Ale

• 2007, a story of regret, the original owner decided to sell this old bottle of Ale on auction, seemingly uninteresting, it came with a story attached explaining the history of the bottle, how it was brewed specifically for Sir Edward Belcher on his 1852 Arctic expedition
• It was mistitled on auction, and it sold for a measly 300 dollars
• The purchaser IMMEDIATELY threw it back up with proper title and description, and it sold for 500,000 dollars
• Suffice to say, the original owner was kicking himself

4 – The Meteorite Collection

• 2009, a vast collection of meteorites collected over 13 years by former electronics engineer Rob Elliot is put up for auction, and manages to sell for 1.4 million dollars
• Reason he sold it all? He figured someone with more interest in meteorites might be able to make use of his labour better than he possibly could

3 – Marilyn Monroe’s Dress

• 1962, Marilyn Monroe sang an extremely sensual version of the happy birthday song to President John F Kennedy
• In it, she wore a dress so tight and curve-hugging most claimed she wore nothing underneath
• 1999, Manhattan collectible company appropriately named “Gotta Have It” bought the dress for 1.2 million dollars, and they claimed the item was so rare that they were prepared to pay twice that much

2 – The World’s Biggest Gold Coin

• 2007, a coin so gold that its purity is known to be 99.999 percent solid gold, and takes multiple people just to move
• It passed hands between several companies, the first from a Spanish precious metals trading company for 2.68 million dollars, its exact worth
• It was also known to have been in the possession of Queen Elizabeth for a time, along with two unidentified investors and a reclusive hermit

1 – The GigaYacht

• Known as the most expensive item ever auctioned on Auction, it’s a 405 foot yacht featuring fourteen multi-level VIP suits, bushes, grass and a helicopter platform – basically a floating island fortress
• A company known as 4Yacht sold it on auction for the ridiculous price of 168 million dollars, and they had to pay 84 million just to hold it in place until it could exchange hands
• It was designed by naval architect Frank Mulder, who has since designed even bigger, more complex floating monstrosities

LINKS
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